This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

The Palm Beach Post reports that "Worried callers overwhelmed the state's nuisance alligator hot line Monday as the national media seized on the news that three women had likely met their deaths in the reptiles' jaws in less than a week."

One reason people are worried is that a four-day search resulted in the capture of the nine-and-a-half-foot-long alligator that killed Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, a student. The alligator's stomach contained a racoon, a turtle shell, a garbage bag, and both of Jimenez's arms.

Meanwhile, back in L.A., the seven-foot-long alligator called "Reggie" has eluded authorities at Lake Machado.

4 Comments:

Here's the political / policy point, which I thought was evident, but clearly was not: our city has failed to remedy a clearly dangerous condition. While the desire to catch Reggie without hurting him was absolutely decent and reasonable, it hasn't worked. Sadly, if we don't kill him, he may well kill children, adults or pets at the park. The issue is public safety vs. humane treatment of wild animals.

As for the political angle of the foot-licker, I got nothin'. And I pre-apologized for its irrelevance. But that story was just too dang weird not to share. I mean, would you, in a million years, ever imagine anyone wanted to do such a thing? I wouldn't.